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Each summer this time of year, nostalgia lovers descend on the Reno area, bringing their cars and beloved music of bygone eras to town for the weeklong celebration that is Hot August Nights. Visitors cruise the streets, shop in our stores, play in our casinos and they line up in front of the stages for their favorite nostalgia acts -- The Beach Boys, The Platters, America, Herman's Hermits and more.

But just as a 1957 Chevy Bel Air gets more and more rare every year, so do these musicians. More of them die off, and every year the ones that remain hit the road with fewer, if any, original members. When Hot August Nights launched in 1986, 10,000 people went to the Reno-Sparks Convention Center to hear the Righteous Brothers and Jan and Dean. But Righteous Brother Bobby Hatfield died in 2003, and Jan Berry of Jan and Dean died in 2004. The same story could be repeated for a number of artists who have appeared over the years. So what happens when Hot August Nights runs out of nostalgia acts? Will the bands play on?

Area experts on the subject all say yes, but none are really sure how. All seem to agree that the bands will have to be more recent, even if the cars aren't. Bands booked this year for HAN, like '70s stalwarts America and The Village People, indicate the event is already heading in that direction.

Bruce Walter, the interim executive director of HAN, downplayed the gradual disappearance of the event's music, which is booked in part based on surveys given to HAN participants.

"Sure you lose some (of the performers) as you go on, but we have been very fortunate," Walter said. "We're not threatened in terms of available entertainment. There's still a phenomenal number of '50s and '60s performers out there."

Walter said HAN is not addressing the issue of hiring performers now because it's still easy to bring in nostalgia bands.

When told that HAN claims to have an easy time of booking nostalgia acts, Paul Doege, owner of Recycled Records in Reno quipped, "Then why don't they?" It's a sentiment that comes from years of attending classic-rock shows at HAN events and what he sees as a dip in quality.

"(HAN) used to do those cavalcade of stars things, with eight different bands, most of them oldies artists," Doege said. "They had a set band play behind them, and they'd have the guy who sang "Tequila" come out, the guy who did "Sealed with a Kiss" play and "Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. They were fun.

"I think what they've done is gone to the '70s for the main acts and your Sha Na Na cover bands (like Papa Clutch and the Shifters) for everything else," Doege said. "I think there are still guys out there doing it, but a lot of them have moved to Branson (Mo.), and maybe realize what kind of gig they have and want more money."

But Doege doesn't mind seeing the '70s bands, and said the Herman's Hermits and Grass Roots shows of recent years were good. He also pointed out that some of the '50s acts have been terrible, including Little Richard, who he saw twice, once with an audience that booed lustily.

"They're still bringing in some good bands," Doege said. "But it used to be as much about the music as it was the cars. Now I'd say its 85 percent cars and 15 percent music, and that's being generous."

Jim McClain was one of the HAN founders in 1986 and is a DJ at KOZZ, the area's classic-rock station. He said the nostalgia acts were much easier to find when the event was young and admits there are challenges ahead.

"That whole age group is dying off," McClain, 58, said. "I know, because I'm part of that group. It's like that format of music. They've got to do something to bring in the younger people."

McClain also suggested a shift to music that is nostalgic, but of a more recent vintage.

"HAN started out as cars and music. It was doing music to bring the cars in. There is a very special bond with the older cars and my generation. We grew up in the '50s and '60s and the music and cars kinda went together. Does a '55 Chevy and Run DMC go together? I don't know. It's very possible. The music, of course, is going to have to age with the years."

Indeed, a 25-year-old could go out and buy a 1960 Ford Fairlane, but is that person going to want to listen to Little Anthony and the Imperials? Randy Burke, who was with HAN for nine years and is now at the helm of Road Shows, producer of such events as Street Vibrations, echoes McClain's sentiments. Burke recently did a show in Myrtle Beach (S.C.) with Chubby Checker, and said he was met with mixed reactions.

"Do the people of today know who they are?" Burke said. "The folks that were in (Checker's) age group thought they had died and gone to heaven. The kids in their 20s were a little bewildered. They didn't have the memories, so there's no history.

"You have to look at who's the next audience of hot-rodders coming up. I think right now that'd probably be a crapshoot. Stick with the mainstream acts and love it while it lasts. One of these days there aren't going to be any of these left."

Doege of Recycled Records suggested that maybe the music doesn't matter so much.

"You gotta remember that 90 percent of the people out there that week don't care who's playing. They just want to get up and dance."